What the Hell Does IT
Do Anyway?
By: Kristan Gainey, Chief of Staff for the CIO of Informatica
How many times have you heard that in a meeting or even said it yourself? In most cases it’s a fair question because a lot of what IT does goes unnoticed. I have found that while IT enables the business and contributes to its success, the outcomes often go unnoticed simply because IT and the business speak different languages.
Let’s take the word “bimodal” for example. Every time I hear
it I think of a big, black bear on a bicycle. Usually, I’m in a IT strategy
meeting, so it’s safe to assume that’s not what the speaker means.
According
to Gartner, bimodal IT is the practice of managing two separate, coherent
modes of IT delivery – one focused on stability and the other on agility. It’s
a powerful word and accurately describes exactly what IT does every day. However,
it means nothing to the business. It’s just not part of their language.
However, a language both IT and business speak is “data,” and
– guess what – IT usually owns the data for the company! Data intelligence,
metrics and making sense of data are at the very core of today’s digital
transformations, and IT is in a unique position to use data to transcend
language and demonstrate its value to its internal customers.
But first, IT needs to get smarter about what the business
actually does and how IT contributes to its success. Here are a few steps IT
can take to build a true partnership with the business:
·
Everybody
in IT – not just the CIO – needs to gain a greater understanding of how the
business defines success. Without understanding the business’ goals and
aspirations, how can IT possibly measure its contribution?
·
For every
project, regardless of size, IT must ask: What business problem does this
solve? The company makes tough resource decisions all the time, and if IT
can’t tie a project back to a business problem or corporate goal, it will be
difficult to prove its value.
·
After establishing the business problem but before the project ever starts, define the success metrics and base
them on business outcomes. When IT has evidence of how it contributed to
the balance sheet, the angel of budget cuts moves on to the next group.
·
Establish
a program to consistently quantify, measure and communicate the value for
everything IT does. While metrics for specific projects are vital, they don’t
show the full impact of IT. A data intelligence program can look across IT and
aggregate the metrics into a meaningful story with dashboards and corresponding
strategic narratives.
·
Finally, as my former CEO used to say, don’t confuse hard work with results. I
have seen (and admire) the heroic efforts of IT teams who work 24 hours a day
and weekends to ensure the business or the customer isn’t impacted when
strategic projects are being implemented. However, the results are what matter
and communicating those results with corresponding data matters even more.
IT is a magical place. Great things happen in the engine
room of the company. Having been in the technology industry for over 20 years
on both the service and business sides, I have seen the most significant
success in companies when IT measures their efforts, ties them back to business
outcomes, and consistently communicates their results using the language of
data. Not only does IT get the respect it deserves, the business is able to
unleash the magical power of IT.
Kristan Gainey is Chief of Staff for the CIO of Informatica and leads the company's IT Program Management Office (PMO) team. She is passionate about learning, solving tricky problems and creating stories that educate, inspire and persuade.
Kristan Gainey is Chief of Staff for the CIO of Informatica and leads the company's IT Program Management Office (PMO) team. She is passionate about learning, solving tricky problems and creating stories that educate, inspire and persuade.
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